


Clarity (and then blink)

by wyrm_n_sigun



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Common Cold, Gen, POV Toothless, alternate perspective, httyd 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 10:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2728346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyrm_n_sigun/pseuds/wyrm_n_sigun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the vein of "what if our pets considered us their pets and named us".</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Little Fleck-handed was unwell. 

 

It seemed he was  _always_  unwell; from the frailty of his body to his leg-wound and his burning hide during the cycles when the dragon in the sky had been away too long and snow took hold, your human needed much looking-after.

 

You put your jaw on his belly. He squirmed, throwing a wobbly foreleg over his head, and made an unhappy sound.

 

"How do you feel?" you asked, barely moving your maw so as to not jostle his delicate insides.

 

The most unfortunate thing about humans was how little speech they understood. Little Fleck-handed was the most intelligent of them all (at least you thought so), but then again, pigs were intelligent animals too; you would not expect a pig or a human to spontaneously achieve speech. Asking Little Fleck questions was perhaps pointless: but you knew he liked the sound of your voice, even if he couldn't understand the words.

 

So when he jerked and shoved your snout away with floppy paws, it was a blow to your pride, too. Little Fleck growled human-sounds, eyes closed, and with a horridly sick and miserable scent leaking off of him. 

 

"Little Fleck?"

 

He sniffed, and made a pathetic mewl. He twitched and shifted himself on the flat-raising-nest. If you had not seen him survive such before, his laboured breaths would have sent you running either for Greatness-of-frost-sea-deep (she was the oldest of the tempest, and the wisest in caring for humans), or for back to the gentle human-male with the pungent plants humans pre-chewed with stones.

 

Instead, your human's sad sounds and smells pushed you to rise, folding half your body on top of him, and beginning to bathe him. His fur needed a good grooming, and it would cool his skin. But this only further upset Little Fleck; he made a sound like a half-scream, and rolled his entire body away from your ministrations. The illness had made him temperamental, and when he at last opened his eyes it was only to further push you away. 

 

You sat back as he dropped uneasy into sleep. He already had his plants-for-being-better, and he didn't want you to hold him. You wouldn't be a very good human-owner if you just left him alone, though. 

 

Remembering when he had been ill after losing the leg, you thought of how he had passed many unwell hours in the flat-nest playing with his picture-stick. Little Fleck wasn't one for shiny sharp toys like the hairy human breeds, but he liked his picture-stick and the soft-making hair-tooth and the false fires in the cave with Snoring-benevolence's Loud Sharp Arm-and-Leg. 

 

But looking at the raising-tree across the cave, there was no picture-stick. 

 

Typical humans, leaving their dragons to pick up after them. 

 

"Where'd you leave your picture-stick, brother? You're always forgetting your toys everywhere... let me go find it for you. Don't go anywhere."

 

Little Fleck only made a snort in response.  

 

Having failed to find the stick on the lower level of the cave, you thought to check the fire-cave, where Little Fleck left a lot of his odds-and-ends. You had intended to be back quickly, but you were delayed by passing other dragons outside, who were taking their humans for a flight or a walk. 

 

"Morning, Sheathed-ruin!"

 

"Morning, Plucking-jewels."

 

"How is Little Fleck-handed? Spun-rye is almost ill worrying for him."

 

"He's not well, but it's nothing lethal. He's mostly crabby. He hit me."

 

"Oh, de--

 

"Good morning, Sheathed-ruin!"

 

"Morning, Pocked-belly."

 

"-- so I shouldn't let Spun-rye come visit?"

 

"No, no. Don't. He'll just sleep through it. Besides, you know how humans are. She might get sick too."

 

"Aw, okay. I hope he's better later!"

 

"I hope so too."

 

"Morning, Sheathy!"

 

"I told you not to call me that, Yappish rimmed."

 

"What? No, I didn't say it! It was Boorish who said it."

 

"You shit! You said it!"

 

"Good  _morning,_ Boor-yap. Now please excuse me."

 

"Hey! Only our birthing-hen gets to call us that... asshole..."

 

"Good morning, Starless Sheathed-ruin."

 

"Good morning, Thousand miles flown-and-dire." 

 

"Mornin', Sheathy."

 

"Morning, Snoring."

 

Arm-and-Leg moved about around Snoring-benevolence, who kept up watch on his human with bare wakefulness. You squeezed into the cave, sniffing for Little Fleck's scent. 

 

"What're you lookin' for, hatchy?"

 

"My stupid human's stuff. He's got a favourite toy I can't find."

 

You sniffed at the tiny door to Little Fleck's hiding-spot. It was probably in there. Great.

 

"You're not gonna get in there, Sheathy. It's too small."

 

"Damned humans. Can you get Arm-and-Leg to try it?"

 

"He never listens to me. You do it."

 

"What? If he doesn't listen to you why would he listen to me?"

 

"Dunno. But try it anyway."

 

"Awesome, thanks. Hey, Loud Sharp Arm-and-Leg?" The big human turned at your voice, and made pleased -- amused? -- sounds. "Hey, sorry, can you... er, in there...?" Well, that sentence made a lot of sense, didn't it. But Arm-and-Leg seemed to grasp the need to go inside the hiding-place, and after a few moments made a surprised bark-sound. He came out with just the thing in his paw, emitting a slew of human-sounds at a low but contented grumble.

 

"Wow, thanks!"

 

Arm-and-Leg held the picture-stick and leaf-packet so you could seize them easier, and you brought them home without biting through the the leaves; Little Fleck would not have enjoyed that. 

 

You dropped the lot on Little Fleck's belly as soon as you came to his spot in the cave. He groaned again, and his paw came down to find what you'd dropped on him. 

 

"Hey! Fleck! I got your favourites! Do you want to play with them?" 

 

You put your paws on the flat-nest next to him. Little Fleck opened his eyes, and frowned as he looked at the leaf-packet. You hoped he noticed that it was not wet with your saliva; you were proud of yourself, for remembering not to do that. 

 

"Are you okay, brother? I hate seeing you like this... I can't fight it off for you, I don't know what to do! You humans are such little things. I worry about you."

 

Little Fleck was looking between the leaves and you now, eyes still only squinting open. You climbed further onto the flat-nest, and this time he didn't push you off. All four paws wrapped around him. 

 

"There, is that better?"

 

In a moment of absolute clarity, one of the few you could say you and your Fleck had had together, he responded to your question as if he'd understood. He made a humming sound of agreement, sounding out-of-sorts, but no longer unhappy. He wriggled, and got comfortable in your embrace. 

 

"Comfy?"

 

The moment of clarity had passed, but you didn't mind it. The leaf-packet and the picture-stick slid-and-clattered off his belly and to the ground (yet another thing you'd have to pick up) and he rolled into your side, breaths choked and loud with his illness and hide an unusual colour. You put your head on his little chest, and he didn't mind it this time.

 

When you woke some hours later, one of his freckled paws was wrapped loosely around your crown.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About my Dragonese-naming headcanons in this fic:  
> Generally, the length of a dragon's name is equal to their status/age, as dragons are given additional names through their lives commemorating events, or things they are known for. Their names are given by others in the tempest (a tempest of dragons is analogous to a murder of crows, parliament of owls, pride of lions, et cetera), and can change if dragons move between alphas/tempests, though they often retain parts of their old names. Younger dragons that are sort of ordinary or don't have great deeds to their name tend to be named after what they look like; ones that are more respected have names that refer to their deeds. Dragons generally name their humans after their appearances, since as far as they're concerned humans don't accomplish anything on the same level as dragons can. But humans that are older or more respected are still given longer names. A human with a name commemorating a deed would be mighty special indeed.
> 
> Little Fleck-handed = Hiccup (3 names because he's everyone's favorite, refers to his freckles and size)  
> Spun-rye = Astrid (refers to her hair)  
> Loud Sharp Arm-and-Leg = Gobber  
> Starless Sheathed-ruin = Toothless (refers to his act of choosing to not kill a human)  
> Plucking-jewels = Stormfly (refers to her coloring/scales)  
> Pocked-belly = Meatlug  
> Yappish and Boorish rimmed = Barf and Belch  
> Snoring-benevolence = Grump  
> Thousand miles flown-and-dire and Greatness-of-frost sea-deep are both extra dragons that aren't characters in the canon universe. They're both old and respectable, hence the very long names.
> 
> It's important to know a dragon's full name, since unless one is of equal or higher status, family, or been given specific permission, it's extremely rude to call a dragon by their primary name alone. This is why Toothless didn't mind Grump calling him "Sheathy", when he was irritated by Barf and Belch doing it; Toothless and Grump's relationship is analogous to Hiccup and Gobber's. Dragons generally don't have such compunctions when referring to humans, they will abbreviate what they want, except in the case of humans that belong to well-respected dragons. This is why Stormfly referred to Hiccup by his full name, since Toothless is pretty possessive of him eheh. And only Toothless ever _ever_ gets to call him Fleck, it's the most diminutive form of his name possible. It's like calling him Hic. Or Hiccy. 
> 
> Other things I ought to define since Toothless doesn't know how to refer to most human objects and some of these may be confusing:  
> flat-raising-nest = a bed  
> pungent plants humans pre-chewed with stones = ground up herbs  
> picture-stick = charcoal pencil  
> soft-making hair-tooth = needle (and thread)  
> cave = any building  
> raising-tree = table  
> birthing-hen = mother dragon  
> hatchy = diminutive form of "hatchling", equivalent of "boy" or "lad"  
> leaf-packet = sketchbook  
> Little Fleck's hiding-spot = Hiccup's tiny studio in the forge
> 
> Of course now that I have all this useless headcanon I think I might have to write more of this fic/perspective....


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

Despite every moment in which you and Little Fleck had looked at each other and he almost understood, nothing compared to this.

 

Your world was torn apart that day. Two great Kings-of-Wills had emerged from the depths of lore, from the most outlandish tales told of dragons in days now far beyond any reckoning, and walked on the earth. 

 

You were Starless Sheathed-ruin, a proud and young and heroic dragon loved by all the tempest and every human they kept. And you were no match for the King. 

 

But you knew too that he was no match for the large and growling human whom had been frightening Little Fleck. A King-of-Wills bowed to a human. 

 

You did not understand. 

 

It was the worst horror. Your pride was tattered and Mighty-furred Red and Warm was dead. It had almost been Little Fleck. 

 

You did not understand.

 

He screamed. His grief needed no words to be understood. 

 

And you bowed before him, and ran. 

 

You did not understand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His paw was on your snout. He made sounds of pain and love, and forgiveness.

 

It was shown in such clarity, it was as if he'd spoken. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He was given a new name. He became Little Fleck-handed deliverance. 

 

"Do you understand me, brother?" you asked, while holding him during a storm.

 

But he did not answer. 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mighty-furred Red and Warm = Stoick, obviously.
> 
> And remember what I said about a human getting a name that referred to a deed? Eheh. Hiccup's special.


End file.
